‘Cars 3’ Drives Into Pole Position, ‘Rough Night’ Flops [Box Office]

There are few guarantees at the box office, but the “Cars” franchise has always been a solid performer, and once again it has started off strong. However, a closer look at the numbers reveals that Pixar‘s lucrative franchise may be losing some gas.

Debuting with $53 million, “Cars 3” took in the kind of money any studio would be happy to have, however, it’s not only the lowest starting figure for any movie in the series to date, it’s also Pixar’s second lowest summer opening behind “Ratatouille.” Still, “Cars 2” earned $562 million worldwide after debuting with $66 million, so you can probably expect this threequel to do just a bit less than that when all is said and done. And remember, this brand is really about the licensed product sales that keep the cash continually flowing into Pixar’s wallet.

In an astounding hold, “Wonder Woman” only dropped 30% from last weekend to take in a remarkable $40 million. The movie stands at $274 million domestically and will easily hit $300 million. After three weeks in theaters, the superhero movie is already the third highest grossing film in North America. Is $400 million out of reach? It’s hard to say, but “Wonder Woman” is currently displaying incredible staying power. Worldwide, the movie has totaled $571 million to date. It will surpass “Logan” ($614 million), and $700 million is not out of the question.

In nearly shocking news, “The Mummy,” which basically flopped in the U.S. on its opening weekend,  has nearly hit $300 million worldwide in week two thanks to China and international audiences that still love Tom Cruise. And at home, the movie only fell 56% — pretty decent for a summer tentpole. At $56.5 million after two weeks, “The Mummy” could crawl close to $100 million at home if it’s lucky.

The big surprise of the weekend, however, belongs to Lionsgate/Summit‘s Tupac Shakur biopic, “All Eyez On Me.” Despite earning mostly negative reviews and public pushback from Jada Pinkett Smith and 50 Cent, the hip hop drama nonetheless found an audience to the tune of $27 million. The film also had the second highest per-screen average of the films in the top ten, but the big question is whether or not this is a front-loaded earner, or something that will show some legs. Either way, it’s proof to Hollywood that “Straight Outta Compton” was no mere flash in the pan; there’s a definite crowd for hip hop driven movies, and we can probably expect more to come (such as that 2 Live Crew biopic).

Sony will undoubtedly be nursing a hangover as their raunchy comedy “Rough Night” flopped with $8 million. It’s the second straight misfire for Scarlett Johansson this year, who also starred in the ill-conceived “Ghost In The Shell,” but its also her lowest opening since “The Nanny Diaries” a decade ago. Seen as the next big A-list star after the massive hit “Lucy” in 2014, Johansson hasn’t quite lived up to expectations, and it’s starting to look like that Luc Besson film might’ve been a one-off blockbuster. The numbers for this movie are even more shocking when you consider that the Mandy Moore and Claire Holt B-movie starring shark flick “47 Meters Down” managed to outpace it with $11.5 million.

Getting carved up by critics certainly didn’t help Colin Trevorrow‘s return to indie filmmaking with “The Book Of Henry,” as the film earned a very tepid $1.4 million from 579 screens and couldn’t crack the top 10. There’s not much else to say except that this will likely be gone from cinemas pretty quickly, and Trevorrow will have even greater expectations on his shoulders as he heads into directing “Star Wars: Episode IX.”

In holdover releases, “Alien Covenant” fell out of the top ten and is basically dead in the water with $72.6 million after five weeks. Overseas, however, ‘Covenant’ got a nice boost from China where it earned $30 million in its weekend debut, helping it cross $200 million globally. Still, it’s unlikely going to be a financial winner if you factor in budget, promotion and advertising, theater splits, etc. Meanwhile, “Guardians Of The Galaxy” is still holding on strong. It’s going to hit $400 million domestically and overall, should cross $900 million worldwide. It doesn’t look like the film will cross the $1 billion mark unless is plays for the staggering 25 weeks that the original did. Still, the studio is more than happy.

In limited release: “Maudie” grossed $49,842 from 24 screens, while “Lost In Paris” earned $4,500 from a single cinema.

1. “Cars 3” — $53.3 million
2. “Wonder Woman” — $40.7 million ($274.6 mil.)
3. “All Eyez On Me” — $27 million
4. “The Mummy” — $13.9 million ($56.5 mil.)
5. “47 Meters Down” — $11.5 million
6. “Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” — $8.4 million ($150 mil.)
7. “Rough Night”— $8 million
8. “Captain Underpants” — $7.3 million ($57.9 mil.)
9. “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” — $4.9 million ($374.8 mil.)
10. “It Comes At Night” — $2.6 million ($11.1 mil.)